Piano-violin.



WI PIANO vro m APPLICATION FILED 001218, 1909.

Patented Aug. 27, 1912.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

4 r ci/ W. E. POX.

'PIANO VIOLIN. APPLICATION FILED 0OT.18, 1909.

4 SHBET8SHEBT 3.

Patented Aug. 27, 1912.

WALTER E. FOX, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

' IIANO-VIOLIN.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 2'7, 1912.

. Application filed October 18, 1909. Serial No. 523,116.

To all whom it may concern: 1

Be it known that I, WALTER E. Fox, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the countyof Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Piano-Violins, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying draw- 111 s.

lily invention relates to musical instruments of the piano violin type shown and described in Letters Patent of the United States, No. 789,272, granted to me May 9, 1905, in which a plurality of vibratory strings are operated upon by an endless cord or cords after the manner of a fiddle bow, said cord being actuated by the operation of keys, such as the keys of a piano.

The object of my present invention is to provide certain improvements in instruments of the above-mentioned type, as will be hereinafterpointed out.

What I regard as new will be set forth in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings,-l igure 1 is a vertical cross-section; Fig. 2 is a longitudinal vertical section on line 22 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a plan View, the upper portion of the case being in section; Fig. 4: is an enlarged detail, being a partial section on line l-et of Fig. 1; Fig. 5 is a similar View, being a section on line 5-5 of Fig. 1, showing the opposite side of the cord-actuating rollers; Fig. 6 is a detail, being a view of one set of the cord-actuating rollers and connected parts taken at right angles to the views shown in Figs. 4 and 5; Fig. 7 is a plan view of the parts shown in Fig. 6; and Fig. 8 is a perspective view of a portion of one of the actuating rods.

The instrument of my said patenhin general, comprises a sounding-board, at the opposite sides of which are stretched sets of vibratory strings, the opposite strings of each set being alike in pitch, and provision is made for vibrating each pair of like strings in unison,-such actuating means comprising an endless cord extending transversely of the sounding-board between adjacent pairs of strings and being movable laterally into engagement with the appropriate pair of strings by suitable mechanism controlled by the operation of a certain key of the keyboard. The endless cord or cords are caused to travel continuously, when the instrument is in operation, by means of pedals. The instrument which forms the subject-matter of this application embodies the same generic features, but is an improvement thereon in several respects, which will be hereinafter pointed out.

Referring now to the drawings for a detailed description of the instrument as therein shown, 10 indicates a case, which is of suitable shape to inclose the various operating parts of the instrument, being preferably of the shape of a, piano case, as shown in Fig. 1, and having a regular piano keyboard.-

11 indicates one of the keys of the keyboard, which is pivotally supported in the usual way.

12 indicates a frame for sup ort-ing the sets of vibratory strings, said rame being of the usual triangular or harp shape, as shown in Fig. 2. As shown in Fig. 1, the

upper portion of the frame 12 is substan tially cross-shaped in crosssection, having laterally-projecting flanges 78.

1314 indicate sounding-boards which together constitute a double sounding-board, the lower margins of said soundingboards 1314L being secured to a supporting-bar 15 which forms the lower member of the frame 12, while the upper margins of said sounding-boards aresecured to bars 1617, respectively, secured intermediately to the frame and extending from one side thereof to the other. The sounding-boards 13-14 may be of any suitable material.

1819 indicate bridges mounted upon the sounding-boards 1314 and extending longitudinally thereof,'as shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

20*21 indicate'the two sets of strings, the ends of which are secured in the usual way to pins 2223 in the member 15 and the wrest-plank}? of the frame 12, as best shown in Fig. 1. The upper wrest-pins 23 are squared so that they may be rotated for tuning the strings in the usual Way, and, as best shown in Fig. 1, the wrest-pins for the sets of strings at both sides of the sounding-board are arranged to be adjusted from the same side of the instrument, the set of wrest-pins tor the strings 20 being extended through the frame to receive the upper ends of such strings, as shown The sets of strings JO--21 bear upon the bridges 1819, and at their upper ends extend over the flanges 7--8,of the frame 12, as shown in Fig. l, forming supplemental bridges for the upper ends of the strings. As has been explained, the two sets of strings are duplicates of each other, and the opposite strings are correspondingly tuned so that each tone is represented by a pair of identical strings. Each pair of strings is vibrated in unison by the actuation of one of the keys. 11 of the instrument by mechanism which-will now be described.

24 indicatesa series .of endless belts or bands of cowhide or other of strings, and each of said bands is mounted upon three rollers 25-.2b27, which are triangularly arranged and extend parallel with the frame of the instrument, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2,the roller 27 being above the frame and the rollers 9.526 at opposite sides thereof, as best shown in Fig. 1. Each of the bands 24 extends transversely of the string frame, passing between adjacent strings thereof, and is normally out of contact with the strings. The several bands may be caused to engage a pair of like strings by moving them laterally into contact therewith. The several bands are kept taut by means of springs 28 acting through levers 2930, by which the rollers 25-26 are respectively carried, said levers being pivoted at 3l32 to as shownin Fig. 3. The springs 28 act to draw together the upper ends of the levers 29 -30 so that the rollers 2526 are yieldingl held apart, thereby keeping the several bands 24 under tension. If desired, rosin may be applied to the several bands bymeans of a rosining device comprising a rosin-holder 33, which is pressed against the several bands by a spring 34 carried by a. rod At the point where the rosin is applied the bands are deflected by a rod 36', as best shown in Figs. 1 and 3,said rod serving as a support for the bands where the rosin is appliedthereto.

37 indicates a pulley mounted at one end of the roller 27 and driven by a belt 38 from a pulley 39 which itself is driven through a belt 40 from a motor H. "The motor may be controlled in any Uuitable way so as to drive the pulley 37 and through it the bands 24 at any desired speed.

It will be apparent from the foregoingdosuitable material.- One of said bands is provided for each pair thoends of the case,

' hands over into engagement scription that the several bands may be driven continuously in the same direction, and that when so driven they travel between the several strings of the two sets mounted at opposite sides of the soundingboard, and that, unless deflected laterally, said bands do not cause the severalstrings to vibrate.

For the purpose of deflecting the bands, each is provided at opposite sides of the sounding-board with a pair of deflecting rollers42-43. The rollers of each pair are parallel with each other and are connected together at the top by a plate 4%: and at the bottom by a plate 45, as shown in Figs. and 5, the plate 45 being also provided with a sleeve 46, which is mounted upon a rockshaft 47 journaled in suitable supports 48-4L9, which are connected to longitudinally-elxtending bars 50-51 provided at opposite sides of the frame, as best shown in Figs. 1 and 6. The rock-shafts l? are provided at one end with a cranlearm 52, which is engaged by a vertical rod 58. supper Q by the inner end of the key 11, as shown in Figs. 1 and 6, so that by depressing any given key the corresponding rod 53 will be raised, thereby rocking the shaft -27 and consequently throwing the rollers 4:2-i3

carried by it over toward the plane of the pair of strings the operation of which is controlled by such rollers. The several playing keys 11 are provided with adjust ing screws 54 for adjusting the position of the rods 53 in the usual way, and said rods are provided with springs carried by a supportingbar 56 for assisting in depr ing said rods when released. The spri preferably engage inclined slots 5? in the rods 53, so that the rods may be readily detached when desired. I

As shown in Figs. 1, -it and 7', each of the bands 24 passes between the two pairs of rollers l2-43 carried by one of the rocle shafts 47, being twisted at right angles in doing so, as shown in the drawings. Thus the broadsuriaces of the several bands are brought into parallelism with the rollers '-Zl-2l3, and, when moved into contact with the several strings, present a broad surface to them and thereby secure a better engagement with them, the elt'ect being substan tially the same as that of the application of a bow to a violin string. The several rollers 42--4l3 are so mounted that normally they are slightly inclined to the vertical, but when rocked to carry their respective with the they assume a substantially vertical position, being then parallel with the strings and presenting the operating surfaces of the bands squarely to such strings. clearly appear from an inspection of land To prevent: the rollers carried by adjacent rocleshat'ts from interfering with.

This will each other, they are staggered, as shown in Fig. '7. I

58 indicates dampers carried by arms 59 depending from the rock-shafts 4.7 in position to hold the dampers respectively in contact with the several strings when the rollers Fl-43 are out of operative position. Nhen any shaft 4&7 is rocked to operate any given pair of strings, the rocking of the shaft automatically moves the dampers carried by it out of engagement with the strings to be operated.

In operating the instrument, the performer manipulates the several keys just as in playing a piano, the pairs of strings controlled by any given key being caused'to vibrate when such key is depressed, by the engagement therewith of the corresponding endless band, which is moved into engagement therewith by the two pairs of band rollers between which it moves. Upon bein released, the band immediately moves out 0 engagement with the strings and is restored to its former position by the tension on the rollers 25-26 and by the weight of the rod 53 acting through the rock-shaft on which the rollers 42-43 are mounted. By employing flat bands instead of round cord, as in the construction of my patent hereinbefore referred to, and presenting the broad surfaces of said bands to the strings, a more positive engagement is obtained and the vibratory effect is stronger, a much better tone being secured.

That which I claim as my invention, desire to secure by Letters Patent, is,

1. A musical instrument, comprising a vibratory string, an endless band moving across said string, means for twisting said band to presentone of its broad surfaces to the string, a key, and means operated by the key for deflecting said band to cause it to engage said string. 4

2. A musical instrument,comprising a viln-atory string, an endless band moving across said string, two pairs of rollers between which said band moves, said rollers being movable toward and from the string, a key, and means operated by the key for moving said rollers to carry the band into and out of engagement with said string.

and

3. A musical instrument, comprising a suitable frame, a vibratory string strung thereon, an endless band moving across said string, means at'opposite sides of said string for twisting said band to cause it to present a broad surface to the string, a key, and means actuated by the key for moving said band to cause it to engage said string.

4. A musical instrument, comprising a frame, a vibratory string strung thereon, an endless band traveling across said string, a rock-shaft, a pair of rollers carried by said rock-shaft at each side of said string, said between the adjacent strings band moving between said pairs of rollers, a key, and means actuated by said key for rocking said shaft to move said band into engagement with the string.

5. A musical instrument, comprising a frame, a vibratory string strung thereon, an endless band traveling across said string, a rock-shaft, a pair of rollers carried by said rock-shaft at each side of said string, said band moving between said pairs of rollers and being twisted thereby so as to present a broad surface tot-he string operated by it, a key, and means actuated by said key for rocking said shaft to move said band into engagement with the string.

6. A musical 'nstrument, comprising a frame, duplicate sets of vibratory strings carried thereby, corresponding strings being opposite each other, endless bands moving between the adjacent strings of said sets and adapted to be deflected to engage the several pairsof strings, several bands to cause them to present broad surfaces to their respective strings.

7. A. musical instrument, comprising a frame duplicate sets of vibratory strings carried thereby, corresponding strings being opposite each other, endless bands moving and means for twisting the between the adjacent strings of said sets and adapted to be deflected to engage the sev-- eral pairs of strings, rocleshafts extending between adjacent strings, a pair of rollers carried by each of said rock-shafts at each side of said frame, each of said bands mov-' ing between the pairs of rollers carried by their respective rock-shafts, a keyboard, and means actuated by the several keys for rocking the several rock-shafts,

8. A musical instrument, comprising a. frame, duplicate sets of vibratory'strmgs carried thereby, corresponding strings being opposite each other, endless bands moving of said sets and adapted to be deflected to engage the several pairs of strings, rock-shafts extending between adjacent strings, a pair of rollers carried by each of said rock-shafts at each side of said frame, each of said bands moving between the pairs of rollers carried by their respective rock-shafts and being twisted thereby so as to present a broad sur strings of the several sets 01 vibrating the same, rocleshaits extending t'z'a nsversely of said. frame between the adjacent strings of said sets, and pairs of 1011011; carried. by Said rock-shafts for new 1 said vibrating means, the rollers carried by adjacent rock shafts being in staggered relation $0 each other.

"WALTER Witnesses J 01m L Jlxoxsom;

lkimmm Ga iQUNTER. 

